Cool Idea: San Francisco in Cookware

CasaSugar — Sat, 10 May 2008 10:31:18 -0700

If you're visiting San Francisco in May - or if you're lucky enough to live here - definitely make a stop at the Asian Art Museum to see artist Zhan Wang's installation On Gold Mountain. For this exhibit, Wang uses rocks from the foothills of the Sierra Nevada to create the sculptures, which are"alluding to the nineteenth-century Chinese immigrant experience of mining gold during the California gold rush."

However, what I find equally intriguing is the cityscape of San Francisco that he created entirely out of stainless steel cooking items.

Both installations comment on California's past and present need for Chinese labor and goods - whether it was during the Sierra Hills' Gold Rush or in present-day San Francisco restaurants and kitchens. An important social statement on its own, Wang is presenting it in an entirely unexpected and incredibly executed way.